docile than the native of Old Castile, who pertinaciously retains the inflexibility of his ancestors, whilst the other readily assimilates with the character of the neighbouring provinces. In general the observer may trace in him a complexional resemblance to the country he approximates; he is most civilized in the environs of Madrid; most useful in the borders of Andalusia; most active and industrious on the confines of the kingdom of Valen. cia; most arrogant and rude on the frontiers of Aragon and the Sierra de Cuenca; most indolent in the neighboured of Estramadura, whilst generosity, nobleness, and benevolence, are the bonds that unite him to Old Castile. In particular we should select for praise the inhabitants of Alcarria, distin. guished by their frankness and simplicity; their cheerful love of la. bour; their social affections, and ready hospitality. In the course of several centuries the character of the Castilian has scarcely undergone any change. From the era of 1230 it has been fully developed; the principles of magnanimity, generosity, fidelity, valour, and integrity, which then entered into its constitution, are still apparent in all the revolutions which have convulsed the country. The Castilian has still preserved that decorous composed gravity, that calm reflective prudence, that fortitud in adversity, which cha. racterized him in the fifteenth cen. tury. The Catalonian hates the Castilian, who requites the sentiment with detestation and contempt. The loyal Castilian burns with indignation against the revolts so fre. quent in Catalonia, and stigmatizes its native by the name of rebel. Character, Manners, and Customs of La Mancha. [From the same. The manners of this province differ little from those of Castile, The people are more grave and solemn in their deportment, and more attached to ancient customs, etiquette, and old fashioned ceremony, and their constitutions are more robust and fitter for labour; their temper in general is mild and peace. able, and they are truly good-huranks pass their lives in ease and moured. Persons in the higher apathy; on the other hand, the common people are laborious and frugal; and both orders take no pleasure in any sort of dissipation, or even of diversion. Every thing is grave and formal. Character, Manners, Customs, Dress, and Language of the Aragonese. [From the same.] The Aragonese, proud and serious, speaks little, and defends his opinion with firmness. He extols his country above all others; nor does he spare hyberbole in boasting of its beauties and advantages; and the least contradiction irritates him. He is blind to its faults, and to those of his countrymen; he has a natural asperity in his voice and manners; and his address consequently is not prepossessing. His haughtiness, his dry reception, his serious air, cold manners, and ab rupt If the Aragonese are cold and serious, they are considerate, prudent, possessed of solid judgment and good sense. Their prepossessions in favour of their country do not blind them to the advantages possessed by others; they know them, and readily pay respect to the merit of foreigners. If they are proud, they are likewise civil; their reception of strangers, al though cold and serious, is perhaps more sincere than the politeness met with in other provinces. They met with in other provinces. They have a lively imagination, and quick conception. They are skilful courtiers without falsehood, courageous without ostentation, and brave to rashness: their soldiers, have always distinguished themselves in the Spanish army, and the province has produced many excellent commanders. Their character is naturally decided, firm, and immove able: they are haughty, daring, and ambitious, to which they often add indocility; and they never yield when it is necessary to fight for the defence of their privilege and their laws; this has often given rise to the reatest troubles. This character of the Aragonese influences their habits and customs. They have always an air of reserve and ceremony, which gives a gloomy appearance even to their amusements. Every thing among them is done by rule and compass; every thing influenced by ancient usuages; and the little they have copied from their neighbours is confounded with their old habits. Character, Manners, Habits, and Customs of the Valencians. [From the same.] Valencia, take it altogether, is opulent nobility, a great number of an agreeable town, inhabited by an rich merchants, an active and industrious people, and a wealthy clergy; it has play-houses, and pleasure is manifested every where; other places of resort; a taste for the streets are clean, the houses agreeable, and we meet with smiling faces; all is gaiety, pleasures are multiplied, and feast succeeds feast: we scarcely believe that feast: we scarcely believe that we are in Spain, on finding our. selves in the midst of an airy, lively people, passionately fond of singing and dancing, of all that can amuse them, and who out. wardly appear warm and cordial. The Valencians are described as for the sake of pleasure, not asso light, inconstant, and only sociable for the sake of pleasure, not asso ciating through affection. This is the picture drawn of them through their own authors: "The agree out Spain, the picture given by able town of Valencia," says gay, replete with all that is unGracian, noble, handsome and ed the Valencians as "substantial." Murillo has paint"light both "in mind and body." It is even become a proverb among the Spa niards, who say, in speaking of Va lencia, La carne es yerva, la yerva agua, that that is, the meat is grass, the grass water, the men are women, the women nothing. But they have been judged too harshly; the contrast of their manners with that of the rest of Spain, of their lively disposition, ever ready for pleasure, with Spanish gravity and reserve, have been the grounds of this opinion. It is true that the Valencians have a great degree of levity, a fickleness of disposition, and a ga. iety in their manners; that they are swayed by the love of pleasure; that they are fond of singing, danc ing, banquetting, and all kinds of feasting; that these are perpetually running in their head, at work or at prayers, abroad or at home, in the streets or in company; the very festivals of the church become with them objects of recreation; but, notwithstanding all this, they can be serious when circumstances require it; they are not the less active in commerce, the less industrious in the arts, the less assiduous in agriculture, or the less profound in the sciences; Valencia can ad. duce scholars, literary men, artists, and able merchants enough to overturn the imputation of frivolity, which the imposition of ap. pearances only could have given rise to. The women are still less deserving of reproach, they are mild and amiable, and sometimes show more courage and energy than the men. On juster grounds are the nobility of Valencia charged with an excessive pride, which the prejudices of an erroneous education keep up. They are, by themselves, divided into three classes, blue blood, red blood, and yellow blood. Blue blood is confined to families who have been made gran. dees, and to some other houses thought entitled to it. Red blood comprehends families of great antiquity, and the old titles of Castile and Arragon. Yellow blood comprehends the modern titles of Castile, and families, the date of whose nobility extends no farther back than two centuries. This division generates envy in the second class against the first, and in the third against the two others, so that no attachment takes place except among the nobles of the same class. The tradesman of Valencia loves pleasure and good living; so would the lowest class of people if they had the means of gratification. These appear gentle, but are charged with concealing their hatred: they were formerly accused of making frequent use of the dagger, and it has been even said that there were a great number of professed assassins for hire in Valencia. One shudders in passing through the streets, particularly those near the Mercado-square, at the sight of crosses on the walls with inscriptions containing the names of persons, assassinated near the spot. We must, however, do justice to the modern Valencians: they are more civilized; there are no assassins for hire among them; the dagger is no longer used; and mur. ders are much less frequent, though they are still heard of now and then. The Valencian women are na turally gentle, but the ascendancy they have acquired over the men renders them at times imperious; they know their superiority, and some of them abuse it. The more active and industrious the men of the middle classes are, the more lazy łazy are the women of every class, the more do they fly from every kind of occupation. The women of the lowest class work against their inclination to gain their living; but, the moment they can do without working, they give themselves up to sloth, till necessity compels them to work again: those of a higher class never think-of work at all, not even of such as belong to the sex, or of reading: this indolence is the fault of their parents, who ac. custom them to idleness from their infancy. However, in consequence of the mutability of disposition peculiar to the country they live in, the Va. Jencian women are always in motion; they walk about the streets, go from shop to shop without buying, and frequently into the charches; the festivals, and the variety of appointed times and occasions for prayer afford them excuses for their trips. They have a singular predilection for St. Catherine-square, which is a place for the men to meet in; they never go abroad without passing through it, if it be ever so much out of their way. If a man were to remain a whole day in the square, he would see three-fourths of the women of Valencia go through it twice or thrice. The Valencians are among the most superstitious people in Spain: they mix religious works with profane customs, and think by exte rior observances, which have nothing to do with the worship due to the Divinity, to obtain pardon for their sins. They have particular. ly great confidence in the saints to whom they attribute the power of protecting from accidents and disSt. Roche protects against cases. the plague, St. Anthony against fire, St. Barbara against lightings St. Casalida cures the loss of blood, St. Appollonia the tooth-aeb, St Augusta the dropsy; St. Raymond has the care of pregnant wome St. Lazarus of lying-in women, and St. Nicholas of marriageable girls, Every waggoner carries about bin the image of a saint to whom he expresses his gratitude if his jour ney be fortunate; but should any mishap overtake him on the road, woe be to his protector! he tran ples him under foot, loads him with abuse, and sends him al Demonio sunta Barbara! a los Diaboles S. Francisco! al inferno mostra senora del Carmen! There are several other superstitions, but we shall only notice that called the mal de ojos, fascination: the Valen cian women secure themselves from it by little ivory hands, moles' feet or scarlet tufts, and likewise tie them about their children's necks, Though the Valencians, iu ge neral, are rich, they do not know how to make life agreeable: each class of nobility, as we have said, live among themselves; they have a great many useful servants. They are pillaged by attorneys and advocates, whom they cannot de without; drained of their money by priests, convents, churches, and saint days, and ruined in their in. come by the excessive luxury of the women; so that at the end of the year happy is he who is not in debt. Sometimes they give enter tainments in which gallantry and magnificence unite; these, how. ever, rarely take place but on two occasions, where a nobleman war. ries, or when it comes to his turn to take the lieutenancy of the maestranza: in the latter case, tournaments, tournaments, balls, and refresh, ments thrice a year create a great expense, but nothing equal to that incurred by the old French lords in the feasts they gave. The merchants are not surround. ed by those apoderados, those lawyers and agents who prey upon the nobility: they transact their own business, and of course know better how to turn their wealth to account. The tradesmen would all be in easy cirumstances if they knew how to make a better use of their business; but their gains are squan dered in expenses for the table and in gaming; in gifts to monks, convents, chapels; in payments to pious societies, in illuminations of altars, and in alms to sturdy beggars, by which a great many persons who would rather live by begging than by honest labour are supported in idleness and vice, and consequently it is impossible to go into the streets, particularly in the night, without being assailed by a crowd of those wretches. Valencia, in spite of its opulence, of the taste of its inhabitants for pleasure, and of their natural affa. bility, is far from being an amusing town. It is difficult to gain admission into private houses; and, without great intimacy, no one sees the ladies but from twelve at noon to one o'clock. There are no coffee-houses; some out of the way places, called boteilerias, supply their place, but are not used for sociable meetings. The Valencians seldom give dinners. The nobility meet generally in large and boisterous parties, in which they do not converse but play, an amusement of which the passionately food. In women are these assemblies strangers are ad. mitted without much difficulty; the party meet because it is necessary, and separate with indiffer. ence, going away with minds as vacant as they came. The secondrate societies are much less nume. rous, but are perhaps more amusing: they often make parties to go and dine at Grao, or other adjacent places, and spend the time agreeably enough. There was formerly a play-house at Valencia said to have been very handsome. An archbishop of the town, through a mistaken zeal, caused it to be demolished. After the death of that prelate, a temporary one was erected, decorated simply but with taste. There are plays in it every night, and the prices of admission are moderate. The women of every class carry the luxury of dress to the highest pitch: those of the first and second never wear Spanish clothes but when they go out on foot or to church; at home, in visiting, in parties, at balls, or plays, in carriages, or on the promenade, they dress in the French fashion. Their stuffs are handsome and choice; they are elegantly made up, and arranged with taste: they come from France. In their head dresses they wear flowers and feathers, and they are very attentive to their shoes and stockings. With all this richness of dress, their earrings and other trinkets are of false stones: there are very few who wear diamonds. The women are not more elegant than the men are simple and mo dest in their dress. The nobility find the uniform of the maestranza very cconomical, as it exempts them from following the fashions. The |